Madrid, Spain
This morning began with the usual routine – get up, eat breakfast, go to class. In Puerta del Sol around 1pm, everyone in Madrid gathered to watch the countdown and find out if Madrid won Olympic City 2012. Unfortunately, they did not.
Random Facts:
* Spain is having the worst drought in 60 years. Dams are at 50% capacity.
* Guatarama mountain range gives Madrid its “continental weather”.
* Until the 16th century, Madrid was a forest – a hunting ground for royalty.
This evening was our zarzuela, so we dressed up and headed out to dinner at the vegi restaurant. I can’t even remember what I ordered since we went back so many times, but it was absolutely awesome each time. The Zarzuela Theater was beautiful and very posh. The show itself was great, and during the opera-like moments of fancy singing, the equivalent of subtitles appeared in a small screen above the stage (in Spanish) so that the audience could follow along.
The story was called La Parranda. The basic plot was that a man and a woman fall in love in this shop. He’s all, I want you, I need you, I must have you, and she’s like, I feel the same way, but, nah, we better not. All these other characters then interact with them to move the plot and suspense along, such as when a man from her past shows up who knows her secret (which is when we find out there’s a *reason* behind her fear of commitment.) Finally, all the romance wears her down, and she says yes to his marriage proposal. The day of the wedding comes, and just as they tie the knot, the evil guy from her past announces (to her groom and all the guests/townsfolk) that their marriage in invalid and sinful, since she happens to be already married. The groom says no, you’re an evil man and full of lies. I believe in her. Then the bride says, well, technically, yes I am already married. And runs off. At first the groom is shocked and hurt, but then he decides that he believes in her and loves her anyway and trusts that she has good reasons for everything she does. Finally, she tells the rest of the story – she was forced into an arranged marriage as a child, to a grown man who was a vicious criminal. The marriage was never consummated because the afternoon after the ceremony, he was arrested for murder and has been in prison ever since. Then another guy from her past (who has been there all along but never spoke up until now) realizes that she herself does not know the whole situation, which is that after he was sent to prison, he was in the bad end of a fight and died behind bars, so even if her marriage to him technically counted, he was dead, so the marriage was over anyway, and she was free to marry anyone she liked. And so the bad guy angrily stalks away, and the bride and the groom embrace and live happily ever after.
The dancing and costumes were unbelievable, but my favorite part was the stage, which was absolutely ingenious. Extravagant sets were changed in seconds, and the stage itself was slanted down in front and up in back so that no matter where you were sitting or the characters were standing, you could always see everything.
